All the Arts, All the Time

Though it may have felt longer for local jazz fans, the nomadic odyssey for the Jazz Bakery that started in 2009 with the loss of its lease at the Helms Bakery complex is coming to an end only a mile away from where it began.

In a move made possible by an exclusive deal with the Culver City Redevelopment Agency and a sizable grant by the Annenberg Foundation, the Jazz Bakery is finalizing plans to take over a vacant space in downtown Culver City, footsteps away from the Kirk Douglas Theater.

While architectural plans need to be finalized before construction can begin on the ambitious club, the Bakery has targeted the end of next year for its reopening. But before that can happen, a long road of fundraising lies ahead.

"We’ve never done anything like that on a large scale, but we’re hiring people to do it," said Jazz Bakery president and artistic director Ruth Price. "We have to do it on a very professional way because this can’t be fooled with. [The new home is] going to be forever, at least for a good long while. Long after I’m gone."